The growth in the number of women pursuing science, technology, engineering, and math jobs has slowed in the past 20 years. Across the country women make up only about 26% of STEM jobs.

A summer camp at Ohio State focuses on improving that figure. Director of the OSU Women in Engineering program, Shawna Fletcher says change doesn’t happen as quickly as she and other engineers would like.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2014/07/29/summer-camp-osu-aims-increase-girls/feed/0engineering,stem,technologyA summer camp at Ohio State focuses on attracting girls to science, technology, engineering and math careers. Women make up only 26% of all STEM jobs in the country.A summer camp at Ohio State focuses on attracting girls to science, technology, engineering and math careers. Women make up only 26% of all STEM jobs in the country.WOSU Newsno3:53New Research In Ohio Labs Brings Star Trek Technology To Lifehttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2014/06/09/star-trek-technology-becoming-reality-in-ohio-laboratories/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2014/06/09/star-trek-technology-becoming-reality-in-ohio-laboratories/#commentsMon, 09 Jun 2014 16:29:04 +0000Jeff St. Clairhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/?p=72413

Ohio is emerging as a global center of research in a branch of physics thatâ€™s stymied scientists for decades. Itâ€™s called Terahertz radiation, a band of light waves with potential uses that range from detecting cancer to uncovering art forgeries.

Ohio is emerging as a global center of research in a branch of physics thatâ€™s stymied scientists for decades. Itâ€™s called Terahertz radiation, a band of light waves with potential uses that range from detecting cancer to uncovering art forgeries.

For those familiar with the original Star Trek series, they would remember the tricorder.Â Spock or McCoy could point the tricorder at anything, and instantly know its chemical makeup, see hidden objects, or diagnose diseases.Â A replica tricorder sits in the office of Teraphysics founder and president Jerry Mearini. As a fan of all things retro, and a physicist and entrepreneur, Mearini was inspired by the tricorder’s pretend powers.

â€œAnd when we started working on Terahertz devices, the first thing that came to my mind is weâ€™re building the worldâ€™s first Star Trek Tricorder,â€ Mearini said.

He says it may not be science fiction much longer.

New technologies

â€œWeâ€™re not building the tricorder itself, weâ€™re building the engine that drives it,â€ Mearini said.

The engine is a credit-card sized, high-power Terahertz generatorâ€” technology thatâ€™s eluded scientists since the 1960s.

Light is a spectrum. On one end you have high-energy, high-frequency X-rays; on the other end, low frequency radio waves â€“ like the ones your car antenna captures. In the middle of the spectrum is visible light that you see all around you.Â People have made use of practically every part of that spectrum in one way or another, except for one. The Terahertz frequencies.

But the equally promising Terahertz range has up until now been relatively inaccessible through existing technologies.Â Itâ€™s been called the Terahertz gap.

â€œI wouldnâ€™t describe it as a gap, but it is the spectral region thatâ€™s had the least attention, the fewest man years applied to it,â€ saidÂ Frank De Lucia, a physics professor at Ohio State. De Lucia is a pioneer in the field of Terahertz research.Â â€œAnd I think thereâ€™s a lot more virgin territory to explore and a lot more virgin things to find simply because itâ€™s not been worked on much as a function of time.Â And part of the reason for that is that itâ€™s been difficult and expensive to build sources.â€

And De Lucia says the practical, portable Terahertz source that Jerry Mearini has created is a significant jump forward.

Mearini said the tiny gold and diamond Terahertz generator is based on decades-old technology married to todayâ€™s nano-fabrication techniques. It’s about half the size of a human hair.

â€œItâ€™s a vacuum tube, but a very modern day vacuum tube,” Mearini said. “But not unlike the glass vacuum tubes that are in my guitar amp at home, just a much cooler one.â€

It took Mearini and his team 10 years of long nights to get it to work.

A new breakthrough

Teraphysics announced the breakthrough last month.

â€œItâ€™s a paradigm shift because it would enable a whole class of new experiments that have not been conducted to date, or have not been conducted well to date, because of the lack of power in that frequency region,â€ saidÂ Elliott Brown, an expert in Terahertz technology at Wright State University in Dayton.

Brown sees enormous potential for the Teraphysicsâ€™ device, especially in biomedical imaging. In his lab, he uses T-rays to detect skin cancer, to diagnose burns, and to analyze DNA.

At Teraphysics in Cleveland, Mearini sees the potential of his device to identify chemicals, even at a distance.

â€œThe most interesting aspect of Terahertz is that, in that frequency range, you can unambiguously identify molecular species, because most molecular species in that frequency range exhibit what we refer to as resonant signatures,â€ Mearini said.

Uses include public safety

The Terahertz spectrum can also â€˜seeâ€™ through clothing and paper packaging.Â Itâ€™s being tested in next generation airport scanners to detect hidden objects, or even the chemical signature of bomb material.Â T-rays are being used to link computer systems through high bandwidth wireless, also in secure communications, and data transfer.Â Other uses include inspection of paint and coatings, even uncovering art forgeries.

â€œItâ€™s this unique area within the electro-magnetic spectrum that shows so much promise for so many applications that has really been tapped until now,â€ Mearini said.

The list of potential uses for Terahertz devices sounds like science fiction, but one Cleveland company, and researchers across Ohio, may soon make them a reality.

The Ohio State University’s football team’s impressive 22-game win streak has made headlines.

But the gridiron giants aren’t the only people on the field every game.

The Ohio State Marching Band has dominated the last two seasons in their own right, making music and wowing the crowd with spectacular and jaw-dropping performances. Their skilled displays on a football field-sized scale have been an internet sensation, racking up millions of views on YouTube and garnering international attention.

Marching bands are hardly a new phenomenon and yet the OSU Marching Band manages to widely impress in the information age. The heights to which the band has soared are at least in part a result of their adoption of modern technologies.

Two Ohio State students, Charlie King and Ryan Barta, conceived an initiative to incorporate iPads into the band’s preparation workflow.

“These guys came to me in the Spring and said ‘How would you like to decrease our paper consumption by oh, 100 percent?’” said band director Jon Waters on All Sides with Ann Fisher. “And I said ‘I’m all ears.’”

But as evidenced by the constantly growing view count on their videos, the iPad did much more for the band, also known as The Best Damn Band in the Land or TBDBITL.

“We say the iPads are not marching and playing the show, but what the iPad has allowed us to do is, from a technological standpoint, it has allowed us and our students to see the drill move, to see their individual positions on the field, to have their music, to have the recordings of the band — really everything,” Waters said. “It’s a band in a box.”

Though King and Barta weren’t responsible for creating the technology behind the apps, their innovation was spreading the technology to the squad leaders of the band. To their knowledge, the Ohio State Marching Band is the first to have someone other than the band director use the app.

The previous system involved Waters using a software program to print off a flipbook-like packet for each member to see the evolution of the drills, the shapes of the band on the field. The iPad gives each member far more information about where they need to be and when.

“Those drill charts are only representing 10 percent or less of the actual charted positions,” Waters said. “What’s important are the counts in between and how they move.”

Despite the iPad’s added convenience, the band’s success leans more on the hard work and talent of the band and the directors.

For context, the band’s video game-themed show from the 2012-13 season, the first to go viral on the scale the videos regularly reach this year, was done without the use of iPads.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2013/11/20/osu-marching-bands-rapid-rise-aided-by-technology/feed/2Is There Too Much Emphasis On Technology In Schools?http://wosu.org/2012/news/2011/11/22/is-there-too-much-emphasis-on-technology-in-schools/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2011/11/22/is-there-too-much-emphasis-on-technology-in-schools/#commentsTue, 22 Nov 2011 11:00:34 +0000WOSU News Staffhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/?p=18951A few schools in Ohio have shunned computers and other forms of technology, preferring to get back to pencil and paper basics. State policy makers are pushing technology in schools. What do you think? Do schools over-emphasize technology?

]]>A few schools in Ohio have shunned computers and other forms of technology, preferring to get back to pencil and paper basics.Â State policy makers are pushing technology in schools. What do you think? Do schools over-emphasize technology?

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2011/11/22/is-there-too-much-emphasis-on-technology-in-schools/feed/0Repo Men Use Social Media To Find Cars.http://wosu.org/2012/news/2009/12/29/repo-men-use-social-media-to-find-cars/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2009/12/29/repo-men-use-social-media-to-find-cars/#commentsTue, 29 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0000Debbie Holmeshttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2009/12/29/repo-men-use-social-media-to-find-cars/In a tough economy, a segment that usually benefits is the vehicle repossession companies. While the repo-men and women still use old-fashioned methods to find cars more and more of them are turning to technology-including social media-to locate them.

]]>In a tough economy, a segment that usually benefits is the vehicle repossession companies.

While the repo-men and women still use old-fashioned methods to find cars more and more of them are turning to technology-including social media-to locate them.

“What’s the address of that one on North Champion? Is it out back? It’s out back, right? Okay we’re in route.”

Owner of Asend Recovery E.C. Canterbury pulls up to the 2006 Ford 500 parked on the side of the house within minutes. His spotters got full cooperation from the owner who pulled the car out of the garage. In less than 20 seconds Canterbury connects the car and is on his way back to the lot.

Soon after Canterbury heads to a Southeast Columbus location for a Chevy van.

Within 30 seconds, the van is hooked up and towed around the corner. The vehicle moves sideways so Canterbury pulls over and readjusts the van.

“You can be in and out 20 seconds. Like I said if it wasn’t for the fact the wheel was cocked you saw how fast we got in and pulled out you’re gone in that amount of time a matter of seconds.” Canterbury says.

Canterbury goes on to say when owners don’t cooperate it can take up to a year or longer to capture some vehicles. That’s where technology can help. Some repo-companies are finding success by using Facebook and Myspace.

“We’ve gone on there and typed with them and told them who we are hey you know we need to talk in regard to your agreement with this finance company. So you were really up front with them. Right, we don’t try, we’re not trying to be deceptive.” Canterbury says.

They also do internet searches. Denise Trago traces cars for Mid-Ohio Recovery Services using a keyboard and mouse.

“For example this has a 2006 court record. It’s probably not going to be very close for us, but we can at least see if the address is close to around what we’re looking for.” Trago says.

Owner of Mid-Ohio Recovery, Paul Schafhausen says there are many other web search engines he uses to track down vehicles.

“People search, classmates dot com, Franklin county records and Ohio Secretary of State have been our big ones.” Shafhausen explains.

Yet, despite all the technology repo companies says it often still comes down to low tech drive-bys and stake-outs to retrieve repos.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2009/12/29/repo-men-use-social-media-to-find-cars/feed/0cars,repos,technologyIn a tough economy, a segment that usually benefits is the vehicle repossession companies. While the repo-men and women still use old-fashioned methods to find cars more and more of them are turning to technology-including social media-to locate t...In a tough economy, a segment that usually benefits is the vehicle repossession companies. While the repo-men and women still use old-fashioned methods to find cars more and more of them are turning to technology-including social media-to locate them.WOSU Newsno1:59Is Technology Too Ubiquitous?http://wosu.org/2012/news/2008/05/26/is-technology-too-ubiquitous/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2008/05/26/is-technology-too-ubiquitous/#commentsMon, 26 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000Elizabeth Martinezhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2008/05/26/is-technology-too-ubiquitous/A new study indicates that texting - the art of punching truncated words into a cell phone - can actually improve children's literacy. A British professor says texting encourages kids to use their imaginations to come up with creative abbreviations. WOSU Commentator Elizabeth Martinez, says new technology might encourage some creativity.. but it can stifle social interaction.

]]>We either have one or know someone who has two or three of them? Take a glance around the room or at every public place, you are sure to find one. They have found a way to enter the privacy of our homes and infringe on our quality time. It’s popularity is such that it’s almost predictable that you will find someone being entertained by one.

You’re probably wondering what are these things I’m talking about. Well, you know its the IPOD, and its multiple versions, the MP3 player, or the combo cell phone/MP3 player/with unlimited texting.

There are as many as 31 and a half million kids in America today, representing the largest generation in US history. And they like to buy stuff. Advertisers target these kids and marketers present products that appeal to their generation.

According to Apple, one third of American teens own an ipod. A similar number of teens from all ethnic backgrounds own a cell phone.

What is disconcerting is these same products, created for pure entertainment, have almost consumed family time – the the moments when families cultivate the essential social skills our children need to thrive. It is no longer necessary for someone to have to communicate in person or even via phone; we can now get by with a secret coded language that appears only to be understood if you under the legal age. And what happens to the need to strike up a conversation on the elevator or in a doctor’s waiting room? No need just turn up the volume and appear uninterested for small talk.

Technology’s appeal to youth has been embraced as the best way to reach this generation whether it’s in schools, churches and other social networks. So I don’t sound too antiquated, I’ll admit that these devices can definitely serve – at times – an entertainment purpose. Certainly we must give an incredible amount of credit and shed positive light on the technological advancements and how they have benefited our society. I can’t imagine living with just the basics; however it’s quite appropriate to affirm that our children are maturing in a society that is overly consumed by technology. And why it is a great benefit to our society to have the advantage of living in an era when all these digital methods of entertainment are available at our leisure, We must find ways to encourage our children to engage in activities that require no sound wave connection.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2008/05/26/is-technology-too-ubiquitous/feed/0cell,ipod,technologyA new study indicates that texting - the art of punching truncated words into a cell phone - can actually improve children's literacy. A British professor says texting encourages kids to use their imaginations to come up with creative abbreviations.A new study indicates that texting - the art of punching truncated words into a cell phone - can actually improve children's literacy. A British professor says texting encourages kids to use their imaginations to come up with creative abbreviations. WOSU Commentator Elizabeth Martinez, says new technology might encourage some creativity.. but it can stifle social interaction.WOSU Newsno2:26Ohio teachers take a look at new classroom technologyhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2007/11/13/ohio-teachers-take-a-look-at-new-classroom-technology/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2007/11/13/ohio-teachers-take-a-look-at-new-classroom-technology/#commentsTue, 13 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000Mandie Trimblehttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2007/11/13/ohio-teachers-take-a-look-at-new-classroom-technology/Teachers from around Ohio will be in Columbus through Wednesday for the annual Capital Conference and Trade Show. Teachers can take part in round tables and attend seminars. Another big attraction is the trade show with new gadgetry and technology offered to teachers and their students.

]]>Teachers from around Ohio will be in Columbus through Wednesday for the annual Capital Conference and Trade Show. Teachers can take part in round tables and attend seminars. Another big attraction is the trade show with new gadgetry and technology offered to teachers and their students.

The Ohio School Board Association trade show is packed with vendors. They’re hawking the newest and coolest school items from interactive white boards to comfy student desks.

Students from Tremont Elementary School in Upper Arlington test out a new piece of playground equipment. It’s called Neos. Neos is not something one might ordinarily see on a playground. With its flashing lights and radiating sounds it looks like it belongs in an arcade.

Blake Hobson is a managing partner of Playworld – the company that sells Neos and other playground equipment. Hobson said this toy is more than just fun – it promotes wellness and other benefits like hand-eye coordination.

“When you look at playground equipment this is something totally new because it gets them interacting with each other, and for that sixty second time period they’re actually moving and breaking a sweat,” Hobson said.

Neos has nine games and three skill levels from which to choose. These students are playing one of the games that help their hand-eye coordination. Green and red lights flash across the toy and the students must press their team’s color. The team with the most points at the end of sixty seconds wins. The Neos costs $30,000. And Blake said it’s something a school might choose if they already have the essentials like swings and slides.

Sci-Tech has gadgets that look like small remote controls. Todd Boone, with Buckeye Educational Systems, said Sci-Tech allows teachers to program questions into a PowerPoint presentation and students can answer the questions with their hand-held gadgets.

“What this does for the teacher is it gets a response from every student in the class, not just the couple at the front of the class that always wants to answer the questions. The teacher can then get a grade, download it to a management system and track them and actually give them a class participation grade,” Boone said.

Boone said teachers can also use Sci-Tech to get students ready for tests.

“There actually is a function that you can go into a fastest finger contest so as you’re reviewing for a test the teacher can actually set it so it’s timed and the first student to press the button gets the first chance to answer the question. If they get it right they get points. If they don’t then it locks them out and the other kids get a chance at it. So, it is very fun and they really love it,” Boone said.

Also at the trade show is the overhead projector. But this isn’t the opaque projector you may remember from the 1960s or even the 1990s. This one is smaller, streamlined and digital. Michael Tracey is president of Affiniti Professional Sales. Tracey said this projector uses a digital camera to project objects onto a screen or whiteboard.

“So now anything that’s being shown under the camera can also be shown onto the big screen and with the software you can now capture that image,” Tracey said.

Tracey said these captured images can be downloaded on a computer and students can go back and review them later.

More than 50,000 teachers and administrators are expected to attend this year’s conference and trade show.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2007/11/13/ohio-teachers-take-a-look-at-new-classroom-technology/feed/0teachers,technologyTeachers from around Ohio will be in Columbus through Wednesday for the annual Capital Conference and Trade Show. Teachers can take part in round tables and attend seminars. Another big attraction is the trade show with new gadgetry and technology offe...Teachers from around Ohio will be in Columbus through Wednesday for the annual Capital Conference and Trade Show. Teachers can take part in round tables and attend seminars. Another big attraction is the trade show with new gadgetry and technology offered to teachers and their students.WOSU Newsno3:24Route 315 Next Silcon Valley?http://wosu.org/2012/news/2006/05/15/route-315-next-silcon-valley/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2006/05/15/route-315-next-silcon-valley/#commentsMon, 15 May 2006 00:00:00 +0000Sam Hendrenhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2006/05/15/route-315-next-silcon-valley/

Columbus city, business and academic leaders hope to turn part of the city into a major center for research and technology. The leaders propose to create the Route 315 Research and Technology Corridor.

Columbus could be a major center for scientific research and technology – if a plan to create technology corridor is successful. Columbus city council president Matt Habash says a 315 Research and Technology Corridor is vital to the region’s future, but it means a different approach to economic development.

The proposed 315 Research and Technology Corridor begins at Riverside Hospital and stretches south along State Route 315 to COSI. In those 10,000 acres, 50,000 people are employed and $1 billion worth of research is done annually. But until now, according to Columbus City council president Matt Habash, local leaders did not fully comprehend the available resources.

“Let’s tell ourselves what we have -we’ve got to market that to ourselves – we don’t know what’s there,” says Habash. “You know I often tease the university that they’ve got 18 different deans doing things and sometimes bureaucracies like cities and universities, they don’t communicate very well.”

The corridor’s resources have been pinpointed on a new map. They include Ohio State University, Battelle, Columbus Children’s Hospital, Chemical Abstracts, Edison Welding Institute and the SciTech Center. Habash says it’s more realistic for the governments of Columbus, Upper Arlington, Grandview Heights, and Clinton Township to help nurture and develop businesses that began in central Ohio than to try to attract new ones.

“These start-up companies that are coming out of Ohio State and Battelle; they go from an idea to what could be a business. But when they need to go to the next level, we’re not ready for that,” says Habash.

Specific details have yet to be worked out, but a diverse group of community leaders spoke in support of the plan at a public forum late Monday afternoon.

]]>http://wosu.org/2012/news/2006/05/15/route-315-next-silcon-valley/feed/0Farmers try to keep up with technology advanceshttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2005/06/06/farmers-try-to-keep-up-with-technology-advances/
http://wosu.org/2012/news/2005/06/06/farmers-try-to-keep-up-with-technology-advances/#commentsMon, 06 Jun 2005 00:00:00 +0000Mike Thompsonhttp://wosu.org/2012/news/2005/06/06/farmers-try-to-keep-up-with-technology-advances/Technology advances have always been a part of farming; after all, the industry has moved from horses and oxen to tractors and combines. But in recent years, technology that once seemed unimaginable is appearing even on small farms.

]]>Technology advances have always been a part of farming; after all, the industry has moved from horses and oxen to tractors and combines.

But in recent years, technology that once seemed unimaginable is appearing even on small farms.

From the road, Heimerl Farms south of Johnstown looks like an average large farm. Four tall silos are surrounded by hog bars and about 2,500 acres of grain fields.

One of the farm’s international harvester tractor rolls idles in a barn. It rolls on 6 foot high tires and is powered by a 235 horse power engine. But it’s guided by satellites.

On the other side of the farm, augers and chutes transfer hog feed from the silos into semi trucks, just as they have for years. But now computers control the mix of ingredients right down to the fraction of a pound.

In the barns, hogs scurry to the edge of the pen,looking for some of that feed. Behind the scenes, special software tracks the feed mixture, breeding and the quality of the pork the hogs produce.

On other farms, dairy cows wander into barns when the feel the need and are milked automatically by robots.

Pictures taken from satellites help farmers estimate crop production and control run-off.

Matt Heimerl climbs into a red truck that spreads fertilizer and pesticides. The cab of the truck is filled with technology.

A pocket pc is connected to a global positioning satellite receiver and spreader controls. The GPS system helps him steer. The pocket pc uses soil samples to tell the spreader controls how much fertilizer to spread and where. Heimerl says the system helps boost yield and cut costs.

The system cost about 3-thousand dollars. Heimerl expects the cost savings to pay for the system in about a year..

There is a GPS system that actually steer the tractor automatically they cost much more, but the Heimerl’s are considering it.

While satellites robots may be new to farming, technology advances are not.

The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation’s Joe Cornelly says for the past 75 years, technology has been advancing. Farmers are always looking for new ways to gain an advantage to squeeze profits in a low margin industry.

While prices have come down, the GPS technology and robotic systems remain expensive – out of reach for small farmers.

Joe Logan, president of The Ohio Farmers Union, which represents family farms, says small farms are not threatened by the unaffordable GPS systems.

Many farming technology advances are microscopic. Bio technology is being used by more and more farmers.. And not just the big farms. The farm bureau’s Joe Cornelly says bio tech has boosted yields, increased protection and even improved flavor.

Farmer’s Uion president Joe Logan is skeptical about some biotech advances. Logan says some genetic engineering advances are being driven by research companies and labs rather than farmers or the consumer.

Matt Heimerl who is 21, readily accepts the new farming technology. He says farmers are adapting.. Gradually. And just when they get used to it, some new farming technology will come along..